Putin will present state awards to human rights activists and philanthropists

Russian President Vladimir Putin will be awarded on Monday in the Kremlin the state awards in the field of human rights and charitable activities, said the press service of the Kremlin.

«Eighteenth of December, Vladimir Putin handed in the Kremlin, the state prize for outstanding achievements in the field of human rights and charitable activities of the winners of 2017», — stated in the message.

Putin on 11 December signed a decree to award the state prize for outstanding achievements in the field of human rights protection and charity activities 2017 the head of the Moscow Helsinki group Lyudmila Alexeyeva, as well as Chairman of the Charity Fund named after Angela Vavilova, Vladimir Vavilov.

The candidacy of the oldest Russian human rights activist Alexeyeva was nominated for the state prize of the Council for human rights. After the promulgation of the decree Alekseeva said that all proceeds from the awards it will give to the needs of your organization. «Give a prize to the group and all of their premiums as a reward not as a grandmother of the Folk, and as Chairman of the famous Moscow Helsinki group,» she told RIA Novosti.

At the ceremony awards the human rights activist intends to raise the issue of cruel sentences and prohibitive laws. She reported about it RIA Novosti news Agency after the verdict to ex-Minister of economic development Alexei Ulyukayev, who was sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment with punishment serving in a colony of strict regime.

Ludmila Alekseeva (nee Slavinskaya) was born 20 Jul 1927 in Yevpatoria. In the 1960-ies the apartment Alexeyeva has become the meeting place of Moscow’s intelligentsia and dissidents, storage and reproduction of samizdat, an interview with Western correspondents. In April 1968 Alekseev was expelled from the Communist party and fired from work. The reason was her involvement in human rights protests against processes 1966-1968 years of writers Andrei Sinyavsky, Yuli Daniel, journalist Alexander Ginzburg and poet Yuri Galanskov. In 1976, she became one of the founders of the Moscow Helsinki group. In 2002, Alekseev was included in the composition of the Commission on human rights under the President of the Russian Federation (now — the Council under RF President on development of civil society and human rights). The author of over 100 papers on human rights issues.

Award

The state prize in the field of human rights and charitable activities, was established in 2016. The first prize from hands of the President received Executive Director of the International public organization «Fair help» Elizabeth Glinka (Dr. Lisa) and the General Director of the Autonomous nonprofit organization «Children’s hospice», the Dean of the Cathedral and four churches Alexander Tkachenko.

Glinka received the award after a trip in September 2016 in Syria, where he visited a hospital tishrin in Latakia, after which human rights activists have publicly raised the issue of the need to achieve a ban on sanctions for medicines. Her words at the ceremony in the Kremlin, then turned out to be prophetic. «Tomorrow I’m flying to Donetsk, and from there to Syria, as well as dozens of other volunteers who are engaged in humanitarian activities. We are never sure that we will return alive, because war is hell on earth. And I know what I’m talking about,» said Glinka. She died 25 Dec 2016 during the crash of Tu-154 Russian defense Ministry, which was heading to Syria.

Tkachenko was awarded the state prize for his charity. He has participated in opening of children’s hospices in Pavlovsk and Domodedovo airports, as well as a rehabilitation centre for non-resident children in the village of Olgino (Saint Petersburg). In 2010, the opening of the first Russian state institutions, denying palliative care to children — St. Petersburg state institution of health care «Hospice (Children)». He joined the leadership of the hospice.